Comforted and Comforter
by Chaser921
Summary: In a missing moment from OotP, Harry broods by the lake about Sirius' death. Ginny finds him and comforts him, and feelings emerge that Harry doesn't quite know what to do with.


He sat there for a long time, gazing out at the water, trying not to think about his godfather or to remember that it was directly across from here, on the opposite bank, that Sirius had collapsed trying to fend off a hundred dementors…

"Harry?"

He jumped and scrambled awkwardly to his feet.

"Oh, Ginny…Hi. Wh-What're you doing here?" He ran a hand nervously through his hair as he stared at her.

She smiled gently.

"I just came from Hagrid's. Hermione was doing homework and Ron was getting on my nerves, so I decided to join you. Besides, I like visiting Hagrid. Anyway, he said you'd gone to visit Ron and Hermione, but since you'd just left there, I figured you had snuck off somewhere, and this seemed the most likely place."

She sat and leaned against the trunk of the sturdy little tree that the tangled shrubs had grown up around. She patted the patch of earth next to her invitingly.

"Why don't you sit with me?"

He stood for a moment, torn between his longing for solitude and her offer of companionship. He had just left Hagrid because he wanted to be by himself. But Ginny…Ginny was different. She listened to him, really listened, even when he didn't say anything at all. She never tried to pry things out of him like Hermione, and she usually understood him, unlike Ron.

He sat. He didn't say anything, just stared at the ground and started mindlessly picking leaves of grass and throwing them aside.

She drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her slender arms around them. She looked out at the lake. The bright sun made its dancing surface sparkle like diamonds, and a slight breeze ruffled Ginny's hair.

"I've always liked this spot," she said quietly. "It's so beautiful and quiet. You can just sit and think. You can just…hide yourself away. And people have to be looking for you to find you." She smiled at him. "Which is the only reason I found you, by the way. I've been here before."

A few strands of hair blew across her face, and Harry automatically reached over and tucked them behind her ear. He twirled one around his finger, suddenly conscious of the subtle golden flecks hidden among the fiery red. He'd never noticed it before.

"Your hair is really beautiful Ginny."

She flushed, but didn't say anything as he continued playing with her hair. His gaze was drawn to her neck, and the solitary freckle that lay in the hollow of her throat. "And you have this one freckle," he brushed it lightly with his fingertips, and her skin seemed to shiver slightly. Or was it his imagination? "Right here, on your throat. It's strange that there aren't any others around it. It's just…there, all by itself."

She grinned. "Yes, freckles are a bit like people. They usually group together, but sometimes they want to be by themselves." She paused, and her voice grew softer, gentler. "Rather like you."

He bit his lip and withdrew his hand, settling back against the tree. He crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his hands away, as if to say that they'd been acting of their own accord and he was going to make sure that they didn't do anything like that again.

Ginny sighed and rubbed his arm. "Oh, Harry, I didn't mean it like that. Don't go all cold and distant with me again. You were yourself for a minute there."

"I don't know what you mean," he said stiffly. She sighed again.

"Harry," she said, hesitating. "I'm not going to fuss at you for wanting to be alone. But…you can't just shut out the people who care about you! You have to realize that there are people who are here for you, who want to help you."

He tensed. He was wrong about her. He had been so sure that Ginny would not want to talk about Sirius, not nag him to pour out his feelings like Hermione. Now she was about to do it.

"I know you're not ready to talk about Sirius."

"I don't want — wait, you do?"

She nodded.

"I just wanted to tell you that, when you are, I'll be here to listen. I won't bother you about it or anything, and if you never want to talk about him with me, it's alright. I just thought you should know that…well, I'm here for you. For whatever you need."

He stared at her for a moment, his mouth slightly open. Then he heaved a great sigh and lay his head on her shoulder. She sat stiffly for a moment, then hesitantly drew him into her arms. With this encouragement, he curled up against her and held onto her tightly as the first silent tears began trickling down his cheeks.

She held him as he wept, stroking his hair and placing occasional kisses on his forehead as her shirt became soaked with his tears. Eventually he quieted, but he did not let her go. They sat there for what must have been an hour, Ginny silently comforting him.

He didn't know what he'd do if she let go of him. He had this horrible, sinking feeling that the world would really end if he had to leave the safe haven of her arms and face the dark, terrible reality that awaited him outside them. Ginny kept the world at bay, and protected him in a way that no one else had ever done.

For this moment — this one quiet moment — he knew he was safe and he was loved. He did not understand how or why he knew, he just did.

But it had to end.

As the sun began to sink below the horizon Ginny began to shiver, though Harry still held her tightly. He sat up and looked at her, surprised to see that her face was wet as well.

He raised a hand to her face and used his thumb to catch the tear that was still trickling down her right cheek. She tried to smile and began searching her pockets for a handkerchief.

"You don't happen to have a handkerchief with you, do you Harry?" she asked, sounding as if she had a very bad head cold. "I seem to have left all of mine in my room."

He started turning out his pockets, unexpectedly finding a clean handkerchief. He handed it proudly to Ginny, who looked surprised, but pleased.

"I'm impressed," she said as she dabbed at her face. "None of my brothers EVER has one of these. Or if they do, it's filthy."

"I'm not quite sure how that one turned up in my pocket, actually," he said honestly as she turned and began wiping his cheeks. "I usually lose them."

She smiled and blew her nose, the tucked the handkerchief in her pocket.

"I don't suppose you want it back right now," she joked. "I'll get it to you later, after I've washed it."

He smiled, but then frowned in concern as another shiver ran through her body.

"Cold?" he asked, then mentally kicked himself for asking such a question when the answer was obvious."

Ginny grinned. "Oh no, I'm quite toasty. I just happen to shake when I'm in damp clothes and there's a breeze." She wrapped her arms around herself as another shudder shook her small form.

Harry laughed, but stood and took his cloak off anyway. She looked up as he draped it around her shoulders. He couldn't help noticing how it enveloped her. She was so small, so delicate. He smiled to himself. She looked like such a fragile thing but he couldn't help thinking of how strong she was, and feisty. She was quite a package, his Ginny.

Wait a moment. HIS Ginny? When did she become HIS Ginny? She was dating someone else. Michael Corner, wasn't it? And since when was she anything to him besides Ron's little sister?

He frowned as he knelt in front of her to fiddle with the clasp.

She became perfectly still and almost stopped breathing. Their faces were so close. If he would just look up their lips would be mere centimeters apart, and maybe…she shook her head, and Harry looked at her quizzically. She smiled reassuringly at him, mentally kicking herself. She had a boyfriend! Even if she'd had a crush on Harry since she was ten. And Harry obviously wasn't interested in her like that. He never had been. Though…there was a moment, earlier, when she thought that maybe he might not be thinking of her as Ron's little sister.

She started fidgeting as he continued to stare at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked breathlessly. Harry started and dropped the cloak fastening. He had just been thinking of how inviting her mouth was. How soft and moist her lips had looked, how they seemed made for kisses. Had even thought about pressing his own to them, and drawing her into his arms…

He shook his head and gave her a small smile.

"Just daydreaming, I guess. Sorry."

She nodded and stood, wrapping his cloak around her.

"Well, it's getting cold. Think I'll head back to the castle. You coming?"

He shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I'll…be along in a little while. Don't really feel fit for human company, you know."

She nodded understandingly. The stood together for a moment as the silence stretched between them. Finally, Ginny broke it, right when it was becoming awkward

"Don't forget what I told you earlier. About me being there for you. I meant it." He looked at her and nodded.

"I won't forget."

"Right," she said. She stepped closer to him, and hesitated for a fraction of a second before rising on her toes and pressing a kiss to his cheek. She stepped back quickly and started walking back towards the castle, his cloak billowing around her.

"I'll see you at dinner then!" she called back over her shoulder.

"If I'm fit for human company!" he replied, laughing.

Harry's eyes followed her shrinking form as his hand rose unbidden to his cheek and touched the spot where she had kissed him. He smiled for a moment and sat back against the tree, thinking to himself. Her lips WERE as soft and moist as they had looked. He only regretted that they had touched his cheek and not his lips.

He shook his head again. She had a boyfriend! Besides, Ron and the rest of her brothers would probably kill him. Not to mention that his friendship with Ron would likely end. No, he should just forget about it, he told himself firmly. She was Ron's little sister, and he would be like a brother to her. Even if her mouth made him think of things he shouldn't…

He smiled again.

He wondered what Sirius would have to say about this…

His smile faded as he looked back across the lake to the opposite shore, where he and his godfather had fought for their lives two years ago. It all crashed in around him again. For a moment, he had almost forgotten that Sirius was gone, that he would never see his godfather again. They would never laugh together, never confide in each other again. Sirius was gone…

The sun had fallen before he realized that he was cold. He got up and returned to the castle, wiping his face on his sleeve as he went.

excerpt from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, US edition pg. 856.


End file.
